Physician&#39;s cabinet or the like



Jun 23, 1936. H. G. EVANS PHYSICIANS CABINET OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 12, 1954 Patented June 23, 1936 arr- STATES orrie PHYSICIANS CABINET OR THE LIKE Application January 12, 1934, Serial No. 706,396

2 Claims.

This invention relates to physicians cabinets or thelike, and, among other objects, aims to provide an improved combined storage means for bottles and the like and a working top so disposed and arranged as to permit of ready access to the storage compartment, without movement of the bottles. Movement of the bottle support, as heretofore employed, to bring the bottles into position, is objectionable since it is apt to jar the bottles, frequently overturning them and shaking their contents.

It is desirable to have the bottles normally enclosed in the cabinet to guard against dust and breakage, and one object of my invention is to provide a simple and improved enclosure which is substantially dust-proof, and in which the movable members have a generally mating, flush, relationship, to avoid unnecessary projections 0r obstructions.

When opened, it is desirable that the bottle compartment constitute substantially a horizontal continuation of the working top of the cabinet so that the hands of the physician may move from the working top to the bottle compartment, and vice versa, substantially in a horizontal plane and without making it necessary for the physician to reach either up or down any appreciable extent for the bottles. The element of time heretofore involved in reaching up or down out of the normal plane of the working top of the cabinet is important in frequent moments in a physicians practice when the question of life or death may depend upon the saving or loss of a fraction of a second. At the same time,

even when the cabinet is open, I provide means guarding against accidental displacement of the bottles. a

With these and other objects in view, I will explain my invention more fully by reference to the attached drawing showing a preferred construction in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of the upper portion of my improved cabinet, showing the storage compartment open and with parts broken away for clarification;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational View taken from the left of the drawing, partly in section and showing the storage compartment open;

Fig. 3 is a similar view but showing the storage compartment closed; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan section taken on the line il l of Fig. 1.

Referring in detail to the figures of the drawing, I have shown the upper portion only of my improved cabinet lll, it being understood that the lower portion of this cabinet may be of conventional construction, containing the usual drawers, shelves, etc.

The cabinet H3 is provided with the working top H extending in a horizontal plane at the front of the cabinet l2. The working top H is advantageously surfaced with a suitable sanitary, stain-proof, material. My improved bottlestorage compartment, indicated generally by 13, is located to the rear of the working top I l and advantageously extends substantially the entire length of the cabinet.

As here shown, the compartment 13 comprises a frame including a rear wall M which extends above the working top I l, and side walls l5, l6 extending at right angles to the rear wall M at each end of the cabinet. Desirably fixedly secured to the rear wall I4 is a long, flat support ll extending horizontally within the space defined by the rear wall l4 and end walls l5, l6 but spaced from the side walls l5, l6 for a purpose presently pointed out. The support l'l may be conveniently attached to the rear wall I 4 through the intermediation of a vertically extending spacing member it, carried by the rear wall 14, to which the support ll is secured as by means of. a bracket 19, several of which may be employed, thus forming a cantilever connection with the rear wall, the support being otherwise unsecured.

Carried on the support I! I have shown a sanitary tray 20 formed of hard, stain-proof material such as Vitrolite, for example, which is removable from the support to be readily and thoroughly cleansed and sterilized when desired. The tray 20 may merely rest upon the support I! and may have a high back 2! which abuts or is closely adjacent to the spacing member I8. The tray also desirably has a low retaining lip 22along its front edge, and abutments 23 at each, end. Thus the tray is adapted to receive and hold a plurality of bottles 24 in a row extending substantially the entire length of the cabinet. The tray also desirably terminates short of the end walls l5, I6.

4 A closure for my improved storage compartto be flush with the upper end of the rear wall M. The rear wall [4 is desirably recessed as at 28 arcuately so that the rear edge 29 of the cover member 25 may be at all times in close proximity to the rear wall l4 so as to eliminate any unnecessary space between the cover member and the rear wall which would admit dirt or foreign objects. When open, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the rear edge of the cover member 25 rotates between the rear wall and the tray 20, to drop behind the rear wall 2| of the tray and so that the cover member becomes in effect a continuation of the spacing member l3.

Pivoted to the cover element 25'as at 30, in the present exemplary construction, is a link 3| which is articulated as at 32 with the shorter end of a main lever 33 pivoted at 34 upon the end wall l5, and between this wall and the support H. The other or longer end of the main lever 33 is articulated as at 35 with a short link 36 which in turn is pivoted as at 3'! upon the transverse vertical edge 38 of the sliding panel in a cut-away portion 38a in said edge. The side walls l and I6 are desirably grooved as at 39, 39 to receive the edges 38 of the sliding panel 26, which may also have the tongues 49 slidingly received in the deeper portions 4| of the grooves 39, thus providing tongue-and-groove guiding means for the sliding frame in its vertical reciprocatory movement, caused by the pivoting of the lever 33.

As shown in Fig. 2, when the cover member 25 is raised, the longer end of the lever 33 is moved downwardly and the sliding panel 26 is automatically lowered upon its vertical track within the cabinet so that the bottles 24 are readily accessible and so that there is no obstruction between the working top H and the bottle-storage compartment I 3. A demarkation between the working top and the storage compartment, however, is desirably well defined by the upper edge 42 of the sliding panel 26 which, in the open position of the parts, is not depressed below the working top 1 I, thus guarding against accidental displacement of the bottles. The panel 26, however, is depressed sufiiciently to render the bottles readily accessible and to disclose the essential in dicia or label on a bottle, as indicated at 43, so that the physician can perceive at a glance the respective contents of the bottles, all without movement of the bottles themselves. As best shown in Figs. 1 and 2, when the storage compartment is opened, the lever mechanism interconnecting the cover element and sliding panel is arranged to move freely in the space between the end of the tray 20 and the support I! and the side wall of the cabinet, and in this open position, as best lever mechanism, are disposed and move in the spaces between the cantilever support I! and the side walls and working top.

As best shown in Fig. 3, when the storage compartment is closed, the upper edge 42 of the sliding panel 25, which is automatically elevated, desirably abuts the cover member 25 to provide a dust-proof closure.

It will be noted that I have shown two sets of the lever mechanisms, one at each end of the storage compartment 13, to enhance the smoothness, rapidity, and certainty of relative movement of the movable closure members 25 and 25. Since these lever mechanisms are alike, one description suifices for both.

Retaining members 44 and 45 secured to the support H and hooked around the tray 20 may be employed to retain the tray in position on the support, a pair at each end.

Obviously the invention is not limited to the details of construction shown for the purposes of illustration.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a physicians cabinet or the like, the combination of a casing, a horizontally-extending working top on the casing, a rear wall for the casing spaced laterally from and extending above said working top, a horizontally-extending support for bottles or the like secured by a cantilever connection to the rear wall between the rear wall and the working top, and side walls extending at right angles to said rear wall and also extending above the working top, a cover member hinged to the casing in the vicinity of the upper extremity of the rear Wall, said cover member adapted to be swung over the said support ofiset from the working top, a sliding panel interposed between the support and the working top adapted in one position to extend above the working top into abutment with the cover member and in another position to be depressed from the first position, and means interconnected with the cover member and sliding panel whereby movement of the cover member to open said cover member causes depression of the sliding member and the movement of the cover member to closed position causes elevation of the sliding member.

2. An article of manufacture for use as a combined storage and working cabinet of the class described, including the combination comprising a cabinet frame having rear and side walls, a working top surface carried on said side walls, said top surface terminating short of the rear wall, a support carried by the rear wall by a cantilever connection, said support being spaced from the working top and from the side walls, and cover operating elements for the support disposed and movable in the spaces between the support and the side walls and working top.

HOWELL G. EVANS. 

